Chemical Weapons Watchdog Wins Nobel Peace Prize

This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is currently working to destroy Syria's chemical weapons arsenal.

The Nobel Committee made the announcement Friday in Oslo, recognizing the OPCW for "its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons."

The Hague-based organization was formed in 1997 to enforce the International Chemical Weapons Convention.

The Nobel Committee said in a statement Friday that the work of the OPCW has helped define the use of chemical weapons "as taboo under international law." It said recent events in Syria, where chemical weapons were recently used on civilians,"have underlined the need to enhance the efforts to do away with such weapons."

Syria has acknowledged having chemical weapons and is set to become a member state of the OPCW on Monday.

The OPCW is funded by its member states and has a budget of some $100 million. It employs about 500 people at its headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands. It says it has conducted more than 5,000 inspections in 86 countries, with 100 percent of the declared chemical weapons stockpiles inventoried and verified.

This year's selection was considered a surprise. Malala Yousafzai, a 16-year-old activist for Pakistani women's education, was seen as a favorite to win the award. On Thursday she won the European Union's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.